The most notable TV show Westerns of the 21st century

In terms of dyed-in-the-wool period Westerns of the new millennium, “Deadwood” is the definitive offering. David Milch’s vulgar, acclaimed drama was set in 1870s South Dakota and featured some real-life people you may have heard of, such as Calamity Jane. Ian McShane got his definitive role in “Deadwood,” and it was an early success for Timothy Olyphant, a name you will be seeing again.

In 1989, “Lonesome Dove” was one of the most successful miniseries in TV history. It’s right up there with “Roots” in terms of success. Larry McMurtry followed up his novel with a 1997 prequel called “Comanche Moon.” CBS turned it into a three-episode miniseries in 2008. Val Kilmer led the cast, though the series did not prove as successful as the Western film “Tombstone,” also starring Kilmer.

In the 2000s, networks would evidently give Westerns a chance to tell a limited story, but ongoing offerings were limited. “Into the West” is another miniseries, this one from TNT. Though it was a basic cable show, “Into the West” had cache. It was produced by Dreamworks, which at the time meant it was produced by Steven Spielberg. There were hundreds of speaking roles in “Into the West,” which was comprised of six two-hour episodes.

Speaking of Olyphant! While “Justified” is a crime thriller, it’s also a bit of a Western. It certainly has the feel of a Western, right down to Raylen Givens’ hat and propensity to draw down on criminals. The FX show was a hit, and also critically acclaimed. Olyphant will always be associated with his turn as Raylen, but “Justified” was also big for Walton Goggins, who played his nemesis Boyd Crowder.

In the wake of “Mad Men” and other successes, AMC tried its hand at different types of prestige TV. “Hell on Wheels” was the network’s period Western. Set in the wake of the Civil War, “Hell of Wheels” is about the building of the transcontinental railroad. While it was not a critical darling, it did last for five seasons and 57 episodes.

Before another show we will get to, “Longmire” was the prime example of a through-and-through modern Western that found success. The show, which focused on a sheriff in Wyoming, originally aired on A&E, where it was the highest-viewed original scripted program in its history. After a few seasons on the network, “Longmire” did another modern thing. Namely, it moved to Netflix, where it got three more seasons.

Yes, “Westworld” is a sci-fi show. However, what is the theme park that the action is centered on? That would be Westworld, which is an immersive, Wild West experience filled with robots. Of course, those robots don’t necessarily operate as intended, though the HBO show is headier than the straight-ahead 1970s horror movie version. There’s plenty of Western to be found in “Westworld.”

Successful screenwriter Scott Frank also got a chance to create and direct a limited series for Netflix. “Godless” is a seven-episode Western set in 1880s New Mexico. An outlaw on the run finds himself holding up in a Wild West town run primarily by women. Netflix must have been happy with “Godless,” as it gave Frank a chance to craft another limited series: “The Queen’s Gambit.”

Ahhh…remember when the History Channel did scripted original series? It wasn’t all reruns of “Ancient Aliens” episodes. The five-part series “Texas Rising” chronicles the creation of the Texas Rangers. The law enforcement group, not the baseball team. It may have been a History Channel original, but “Texas Rising” had quite the cast. Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser, and Ray Liotta are some of the names in the mix.

Obviously, we have to mention “Yellowstone.” It became not just the biggest show on basic cable, but maybe the biggest show on TV. “Yellowstone” revitalized Kevin Costner’s career. It saved the Paramount Network. It gave Taylor Sheridan carte blanche to do whatever he wants at Paramount. Seriously, Sheridan has created six shows for Paramount now. Although, two of those are “Yellowstone” spinoffs.

“Dark Winds” centers on three officers of the Navajo Tribal Police, and it has a supernatural, psychological thriller bent. Zahn McClarnon, long a character actor who improved most of what he turned up in (most, nothing was going to save “Repo Chick”), got a chance to star in a neo-Western and ran with it. AMC has now given “Dark Winds” three seasons.

“Lawmen” is “Yellowstone” adjacent in that Sheridan produced it (though it was created by Chad Freehan) for Paramount+. The miniseries focused on the real-life Bass Reeves, who was the first African-American to serve as a Deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River. There, he proved immensely successful and somehow managed to never be shot even as a Wild West lawman. David Oyelowo played Reeves in the series.

“Walker, Texas Ranger” is a Western, but the barely-competent procedural starring the barely-competent Chuck Norris ran from 1993 until 2001, so it’s mostly a ‘90s show. In 2021, though, the character got a reboot, one that involved less gratuitous martial arts. Jared Padalecki, fresh off the success of “Supernatural,” starred as the lawman on The CW. The show ran for four seasons, ending in 2024.

Josh Brolin starred in one of the defining Western noirs of the new millennium on the big screen, “No Country for Old Men.” He’s now done the Western thing on the small screen as well. “Outer Range” was a sci-fi Western that starred Brolin as a struggling rancher dealing with a mysterious drifter, a family tragedy, and, of course, a Lovecraftian black void on his land. The show was critically acclaimed, though it was canceled after two seasons. Still worth giving a shot.

Before we get to the final show, we have a couple shows that are often listed as Westerns even though that would be through tropes, themes, and landscapes. Neither of these are immediately identifiable as Westerns, but we can see it. Also, they are both acclaimed and successful shows, so why not include them? “Sons of Anarchy” is “Hamlet” by way of a neo-Western by way of Hell’s Angels. If you replaced the motorcycles with horses, it would definitely read as a Western.

Well, it’s set in Albuquerque. There are gunfights. There’s a lot of sweeping Western vistas. “Breaking Bad” certainly has Western elements to it. Also? It’s maybe the best dramatic TV series in history. Any excuse to give “Breaking Bad” some love, we’ll take it. And just to show we gave this some thought, we definitely would not consider “Better Call Saul” a Western.

Alright, no quibbles can be found here. “American Primeval” is definitely a Western. It’s set in the Utah Territory and is focused on the violent squabbles that shaped life in the land once the Mormons had attempted to make it their new home, claiming it as their promised land. All nine episodes of the Netflix limited series dropped in January of 2025, adding another miniseries to the New Millennium Western canon.